Berlin

Tuesday 8 April

Another cold day in Berlin but we took our Gortex coats to wear as a wind break. We left the hostel at 9:00 to walk to the Brandenburg Gate, intending to join a walking tour at 11:00 and as we had plenty of time we decided to visit the Reichstag and view Berlin from the Dome on the roof. We stood in a queue for nearly an hour and then had to go through a security check and put our belongings through an x-ray machine, more thorough than at the airport, but when you consider they were protecting the nation’s politicians it was not surprising. A lift took us to the roof and we walked up a spiral walkway from the floor of the dome to the summit which gave us a 360 degree view of Berlin and like many large cities the skyline was dotted with cranes.

Leaving the Reichstag at 12:00 we moved the walking tour to tomorrow’s list and walked to the Russian War Memorial in the Tiergarten, a park covering 167 hectares. Although it was still very cold we found a sheltered spot in the park near a pond and a large patch of daffodils to sit and eat our lunch. Walking on through the park we came to the Siegessaule a 19^th Century Victory Column, commemorating Prussian victories. Further along we came to the rear of the Berlin Zoo and walked around its perimeter, the open style fence allowed us to view many of the animals and birds in their enclosures.

At the front of the zoo we could see the ruins of the King Wilhelm I Memorial Church which was destroyed during the war, the decision was made not to rebuild it but to leave it as a permanent reminder of the stupidity of war. Part of the nave of the church remains with its beautiful mosaic ceiling and floor and many marble panels and is now a Memorial Hall. The replacement church is a very modern octagonal building and was constructed with over 22,000 midnight blue glass squares comprising the walls, this Protestant Church has been designated the “Hall of Worship”.

From the church we started to walk along the Kurfurstendamm, or as it is known to the locals Ku’damm, this is a street of fashionable shops and residences but as it started to rain we decided to go back to the station by the zoo and catch the train back to Friedrichstrasse rather than walk the 4 km+ back to the hostel.

Wednesday 9 April

Today was similar to yesterday except it was raining, but we set out to join the walking tour we missed yesterday, stopping at the crosses commemorating some of the people killed while trying to cross the wall.

Joining what we thought was the free Potsdam Walking Tour we set out with the guide and about twenty other people and after visiting the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial and we were heading towards Checkpoint Charlie we realised we had been directed to the Berlin Tour not the Potsdam Tour.

We stayed with the guide until lunch time and as it was still raining heavily and the tour was going to visit areas we had covered we decided that we would go back to the hostel to dry out and prepare for our trip to Amsterdam tomorrow.